WEC | Spa 6 Hours | Preview

WEC Spa 6 hours

The first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship2018/19 season kicks off with the Spa 6 hours this weekend. A flurry of activity in readiness for the first round has seen loopholes tightened, but there is still the small issue of balancing the LMP1 privateers with the manufacturers that is dominating the landscape.

Among the clarifications issued before the Spa 6 hours, drivers may not even release their safety belts until they have stopped their cars outside their garage for a pit stop, reducing the likelihood of an injury should cars collide in the pit lane. Tape may also not be used to seal up the gaps between body panels, a particular trick of Ferrari, which will sort out unusual qualifying performances seen in other series earlier this year.

However, the Equivalence of Technology table has also been released, and it is interesting to see how the ACO and FIA have dealt with the differences of car concepts between hybrid and non-hybrid. While before, Appendix B of the regulations dealt primarily with different fuel and hybrid concepts, but essentially similar car concepts (four wheel drive hybrids), the focus now is on the first column which most ignored last year; the non-hybrid column, and the comparison between Spa 2017 and Spa 2018 is the relevant data.

This year’s Toyota TS050 is an evolution of last year’s car and the team has worked tirelessly on improving the reliability

Little has changed for the Toyota. Minimum weight is still 878kg, petrol energy is still 71.3 MJ/lap, maximum petrol flow has reduced to 80.0 kg/h (from 80.2kg/h) but maximum petrol per stint has reduced from 44.1kg to 35.1kg. On the hybrid side of things, it is still 6.37MJ/lap, and a maximum of released power less than 300kW. This reduction in petrol per stint meansthat there is a maximum calculated number of laps per stint, rather than a maximum fuel capacity.

However, the privateers have seen a big change. While the minimum weight of the car remains the same, at 833kg, they have also seen a reduction in petrol energy from 116.6MJ/lap to 106.4, and petrol flow has been reduced from 115kg/h to 110kg/h. That difference is worth little in terms of lap time, tenths of a second according to team engineers. Maximum petrol per stint has reduced from 53.2kg to 47.1kg under the 2018 regulations, which is calculated to be one lap less at Le Mans, two at the Spa 6 hours.

The Ginetta G60-LT-P1 run by CEFC TRSM Racing featuring a Mecachrome engine

The idea is to maintain an advantage for the manufacturers, while giving the privateers a sniff of competitiveness. The Spa 6 hours will be the first time that the test has been conducted in race conditions, and the only chance that the FIA and ACO have the chance to see the cars before Le Mans. The cars tested at Ricard early in April, and the difference between the hybrid and non-hybrid cars per lap was equitable. The Toyota will go further on a stint, and refuel faster than a non-hybrid car, but this will be a race.

Looking ahead to other areas of interest, the Aston Martin will make its competition debut at the Spa 6 hours, and will be the first time in competition that the FIA and ACO will get a chance to balance the car against the opposition, if it remains dry throughout. BMW will also see if it is in the right place following the Daytona and Sebring races, and the Ricard test.

The figures are now fed into the computer and the auto BoP will work its magic. However, if Spa is wet and the auto BoP cannot do its thing, then the two manufacturers will go to Le Mans with a BoP based on extremely limited information. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

Editor of Racecar Engineering, Andrew has reported on GT and endurance racing since 1995, first with the BPR Series, then the FIA GT Championship and on through to the World Endurance Championship and Blancpain GT series. Along the way he has reported on British F3, Formula 3000, and the World Touring Car Championship. He also writes for magazines in Germany and Japan.

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